The Royal Opera House Shop in Covent Garden will be closed from 20 August to 1 September 2014 for stock-taking and refurbishment.

The online shop will continue to run a limited service with a selection of products available, including bestsellers, Royal Opera House recordings and pre-orders. Special delivery orders will not be available until September.

Recent Royal Opera House DVD and Blu-Ray releases Giselleand Don Giovanni are available to pre-order on discount until 31 August 2014.

The opera was originally commissioned to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 and Richard Jones’s new production, which opened at the Royal Opera House last Season, marked both the Britten Centenary and sixty years since the opera’s premiere. Read audience reactions to the production.

Toby Spence sings the role of the dashing but treacherous Earl of Essex, a character he describes as ‘adorable but impossible’, while Susan Bullock sings the role of Elizabeth I, who she considers to be the ‘lion-hearted heroine’. Watch interviews with the principal singers.

The performance, which was recorded live at the Royal Opera House in June 2013, also features performances from Kate Royal as Lady Rich, Patricia Bardon as Countess of Essex and Mark Stone as Lord Mountjoy. Paul Daniels conducts.

The opera, which is based on Lytton Strachey’s biography Elizabeth and Essex, explores the turbulent relationship between the Queen and her favourite and depicts the conflict between affairs of the state and affairs of the heart. Find out more in our Opera Essentials series.

The 2013/14 edition of The Royal Ballet Yearbook is now available to pre-order from the ROH Shop. The book will appear in shops on 30 September.

Included in the new edition of the annual publication are stunning photos from the previous season (many of which have never previously been published), a review of the year, and behind-the-scenes features. Articles focus the work of the corps de ballet, the rehearsal process and a tribute to former Royal Ballet Principal David Wall, who died this year.

The yearbook features photography of all Main Stage productions. View a small selection of images taken from the Yearbook: